The Whistling Adventure

At the age of two I crawled up on my fathers lap and the whistling adventure began. The old oak table with the lion claw legs held the brightly burning kerosene lamp. My sister and brother, sitting in the corner of the room were singing and yodeling western music to the tune of an old guitar. Since we lived in the country on a farm, miles from the farm houses there wasn’t a neighbor that I could play with so I would go to the barn, climb the steps to the hay mow and practice my whistling for the pigeons who were an attentive audience. Mother wasn’t exactly thrilled with my determination, as she would say, “whistling women and crowing hens always come to some bad end”.

Through the years I have developed new methods such as breathing in as well as out, some trill whistling and extension of my high and low notes. An interesting comment always mentioned at the end of a performance is,”don’t you ever take a breath?”
At the age of twelve our daughter (Claudia) showed a great interest in learning how to whistle so I proceeded to teach her. She developed quickly and soon she and I were whistling at talent shows where we usually won first prize. The greatest accomplishment of all was becoming the National Duet Whistling champions two years in a row until that category was discontinued. We have whistled professionally at churches, living centers, banquets, clubs, conventions, recreation and senior centers and more. We enjoy our talent and give the praise to God especially when people say, “That was awesome!!”
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Elaine Clark
Sweetones